


Wolves In The Company of Men

by zoo_to_hell



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Music - Fandom, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Linear story, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Plot, Romance, Short Stories, Slice of Life, Wolves, Zootopia - Freeform, inertiatic esp, lots of music inspiration leave me alone, oneshots, oo tea sis, wildehopps, wolf - Freeform, wolves in the company of men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 02:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16610411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoo_to_hell/pseuds/zoo_to_hell
Summary: Nick and Judy have to deal with day to day life after the Nighthowler case, whether it be their complicated yet tender relationship, or new problems in the city; or their families.Things and people are not always as they seem, and the duo must always look for where wolves hide in the company of men.





	1. somebody's jealous

_**1\. somebody's jealous** _

 

Judy had found herself in the most stupid, petty situation ever.

Crying on the floor of the women's bathroom at the ZPD when she should have been locked away typing away at paperwork and reports.

Her thoughts trailed off again to last night, to an ever-so-normal fast food dinner after a long shift of work.

She was shyly watching over his handsome, slick, vulpine features as his attention was down to phone; texting presumably.

She'd grow dreamy, and imagine what it'd be like to kiss those thin, warm, black fox lips that he'd constantly lick the salt off of after inhaling a whole carton of French fries.

She'd bite her lip and be flustered whenever his fangs would flash when he bit into his chicken or bug burger. Then turn away embarrassed when he'd tune his attention to her. She knew he never noticed. He never did. And sometimes, she'd grow sad whenever he didn't. She wished maybe that he liked her back. Maybe he'd throw her a bone if he did.

The sad reality was that this was how their everyday dinners would go, and their casual talk would be what she thrived off of; that small spark of romantic hope.

That hope was crushed to bits last night. Judy had been silently crushing from behind her salad as the fox was already inhaling his food quicker than any mammal she had ever seen.

In a desperate attempt to get his attention, she coughed into her fist, and his eyes raised to hers.

She found herself staring into them. Her eyes turned in away submission. "So, uhm, d-do you have any plans on Saturday?" Judy mentioned to their day off.

Nick cocked his brow. "Why are you asking?"

She stroked her left ear and wandered her eyes elsewhere. "Oh nothing, just asking."

He raised his brows and yawned, going back to his food. "As a matter of fact I do have plans."

A little wave of disappointment waved through her, but it was a prompt for another question. "Well, whatcha doing then?"

A smirk split across his muzzle, and he set his phone beside his now decimated tray. "Oh, well, as of recently,"

The fox twirled his finger around on the table suggestively. Judy leaned in a little closer. "I've caught feelings for this really pretty girl,"

Judy felt her heart quiver.

"I'm asking her out on a date on Saturday as a matter-of-fact," The fox kicked back into the booth, sighing, and relaxing his tired body.

Judy held her plastic fork in her paw, which gripped it with a now sweaty, jealous paw.

Her heart split in half with a clusterfuck of emotions. She tried speaking past a rock that was seemingly shoved into her throat.

"Wh-w-who is she?" Judy started to curl up in herself, eyes glossing over with hot tears.

The fox yawned, and his tongue lolled out of his muzzle, gently dragging over his fangs. "Well now, carrots, it sounds like you're a little jealous?"

The rabbit's mind had a red hot filter suddenly pulled over. She slammed the lid onto the plastic salad container, and her brows furrowed with jealousy. "Why would I be jealous of-of, _you?_ "

The fox's expression grew slightly surprised. "I dunno, I wouldn't be jealous about it if I were you."

The rabbit stood in her seat and loomed over the table towards the fox with a flustered, angry face. "I am not jealous of you, would you shut the hell up?!"

A few heads turned in the room, and the only one unsettled by it was Judith.

The fox let out a little humph, and stood up to wipe his shirt. "Then I guess our dinner's done here. See you in the morning."

Before she could try and muster up some kind of words, Nick had dumped his tray and left through the glass door.

Slumping into her seat, Judy eyed her barely touched meal and sniffed up a tear.

**XXX**

Only half of the paperwork Judy had to do had been printed out and completed. The sun was already setting, and a throbbing, aching headache had over come the rabbit. Her small paws pressed into her temples as she groaned in hopeless pain.

Nick had been away on a patrol, and there had been no chance for her to apologize for her comment from the night before.

Her eyes averted away from the word document down to the phone laid on her desk.

Giving into the temptation for allowing her eyes a rest, Judy clicked the power button to hold it up.

Before she knew it, like some sort of instinct, she was looking through a photo album dedicated to her and Nick.

Small giggled and smiles came to her face as she looked back to the goofy things they'd always do together. Then there came her favorite photos to look at, which were from more recent months.

Her giggles and smiles came to a stop when she came to the last photo she had taken with him. A simple selfie with she and Nick after work in her apartment. They had pressed their cheeks together, and she had managed to get Nick to genuinely smile.

She remembered the feeling of his thick, coarse fur against her cheek. The warmth of his body pressing against hers.

She felt a little shiver run up her spine. Then a tingle in her eyes. A tingle that burned.

Then tears began to fall on her phone and the keyboard.

All she wanted was to tell the stupid fox was how much she was hopelessly in love with him.  
How much she wanted to plant her lips onto his and taste his breath.

She sighed, and clicked the phone off, sliding it into a clutter of papers. With a flick of her paw, she wiped the tears away, focusing back on the word document.

"Judy, you know you shouldn't cry over pictures of me at work right?"

The rabbit half near jumped out of her body. A giant wall of red covered her face, and she swore she would've died of embarrassment _and_ a heart attack right then and there.

"I wasn't crying," She sputtered, not daring to look behind her.

A sigh was heard, and she saw his paw slam down a post-it note with words scribbled on it beside her stack of files.

"Just know that I do love you back, Judy. Don't cry over me though."

Her eyes widened in sheer joy as the post it read:

_**10:30**_ ** _PM_**  
**_Andrea_** _ **'s Café on Southwestern**_  
_**Saturday ;)**_  
_**DON'T BE LATE!!!!**_  
_**(didn't i tell you there was nobody to be jealous of?)**_

Judy let the tears from her eyes fall again, but these felt good and she felt a coal of warmth grow in her chest. The small bunny held the piece of paper to her chest.

By then, the fox had already left her office, but she couldn't have been any happier that day.


	2. momma's boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick visits his mother after years of ignoring her, and her condition is disheartening.

Nick’s stomach churned as he smoothed out the front of his iron clad blue uniform for the hundredth time, while Judy continuously looked over at him every time he did it. She was in charge of the steering wheel today, thank you very much, but the building anxiety of Nick made her feel a little stressed at the steering wheel.

            “Relax,” Judy offered some words of comfort. “She’s just your mother. She just said she needed some help today, you aren’t saving her life or anything that puts her or you at risk.”

            “Nice way to word it carrots,” Nick blew hot air from his lips and sat up straight, looking through the cruiser windows as his old childhood street. “This is the first time I’ve seen her in a few years. I feel so… terrible for not keeping in touch with her. Or even… being too afraid to invite her to my own graduation.”

            Judy looked over to Nick again when they reached a stop sign, and she saw his eyes hurt. “I know she hates me—no, I’m going to make her cry when I walk inside and it’s going to be all my fault. Shit.”

            The rabbit placed her paw on his lap and patted his thigh to try and cheer him up. “Hey hey, look, I know your mom will most definitely not cry and will totally be so proud of you. I’m sure she’ll understand and I’m sure she just needs help moving something. You said she’s… very old now, isn’t she?”

            Nick sighed with a melancholic twinge. “Kinda, early sixties. But she used to work to the bone when I was a kid. She was frail the last time I saw her, so yeah, maybe you’re right. She might just need help moving stuff. Then I can make up with her and we can catch up. Yeah, that sounds okay,” His spirits lifted. “Does it?”

            The rabbit nudged his bicep proudly and smiled warmly at him. That always cheered him up and he melted into a sticky grin aimed towards her. “Thank you carrots. I’m glad you’re here.”

            “Of course,” She slipped in their budding relationship, a bit quietly, just to test the waters. “After all if we are… starting this relationship off small, I have to be there for you too.”

            The fox blew her a kiss, and Judy giggled like a schoolgirl.

 

            When they arrived at Mrs. Wilde’s home, it didn’t take long to see what was up. Two other officers were out at the front, arguing with a frail, almost angelic looking older vixen, and Judy too could recognize it as Nick’s mother. By the time she could comprehend it; Nick had already rushed out and stepped by the other officers to her aid.

            Grizzwold and Wolford were there with pens and papers, and their frustrated expressions told Nick that his mother was obviously pissing them off.

            _This is it,_ He gulped, and he popped up behind the big bear, revealing himself to his mother.

            He gave the most calm smile his trembling body could, and his mother’s expression turned from sourpuss old lady, to tender sweet mom. “Nick? Is that you?”

            The tod’s breath was caught in his throat, and it was like tears sweated through his eyes when he saw how old, frail and petite his mom was now.

            “Hiya mom.”

            Grizzwold and Wolford both made the connection regarding last names at the same time. “Oh, wow. That’s funny.” The bear scratched his head and stepped back

Judy had joined Nick at the front of the porch, getting her first look of his mother. She had seen no pictures or had no descriptions, yet looked _just like she imagined._ Sweet, small, with an almost grandma like grace to her. She smiled politely and held her hand out to be shaken, which the vixen did ever so carefully.

            “Say you’re that little rabbit on the news with my son all the time. It’s nice to finally meet you Officer Judy,” She let go of her paw and turned to Nick again, clasping her bony paws together and eyeing him in his uniform, with an immense amount of happiness radiating from her. “Oh Nicholas, you look so handsome in that. It’s so good to see you again, I’ve missed you.”

            She began to hobble carefully over to her son, but the Nick met her halfway, embracing her carefully and with such relief, Judy swore the pressure in the atmosphere dropped.

            A cough hacked up from the other side of the porch, where Wolford pointed at his notepad and tried his hardest not to sound like a douche. “Uhm, Nick, so, I had gotten a report of Cynthia—erm, your mother shoplifting toiletries, produce, and a toaster from Pawmart, and the manager literally had us sick us on her and we followed her home.”

            The fox pulled away from her mother and looked to her with a mix of pity and confusion. “Mom, what where you doing shoplifting?”

            The vixen held her hands to her bosom nimbly, and gestured wildly but slowly. “I hadn’t known they were in the cart with the things I bought, I must’ve forgotten.”

            Grizzwold pitched his five cents in. “Mrs. Wilde has also been extremely behind on paying her property taxes and utilities. This also puts her in danger of repossession.”

            Nick looked to his mom with a great deal of sadness, and watched as she nimbly gave up her defense. “I would buy everything I got and keep up to date and all of that, but I just haven’t got any money. This house eats it all up in hiring people to keep fixing it.”

            Judy looked up to her newfound boyfriend to see his disappointment and sadness, and she rubbed Nick’s arm to ease him up. The fox didn’t seem to do so.

            “Hey, you two, why don’t you go back to the station, I’ll take care of this. Ask the manager how much she owes and I’ll pay it.”

            The two had no objections, and Mrs. Wilde invited the fox and rabbit into the house to sit down, while she hobbled into the kitchen to make them tea. Nick objected to her moving so much, but she insisted, and brought them back two steaming mugs of tea some time later, and sat down in a rocking chair beside the couch where the cop duo resided.

            “That uniform fits you Nick.” She tried to change the subject.

            “Mom, why aren’t you paying your taxes? Why are you stealing?”

            The frail vixen giggled. “Oh, I barely get enough social security to feed myself anymore Nick, and living in this neighborhood and the price this home puts on me doesn’t help. I’ve been getting by.”

            Nick folded his arms over his lap. “No, mom. They’re going to repossess all of your stuff if you don’t pay your taxes. The shoplifting thing won’t help if that happens.”

            He looked over to his mother to find her looking rather shamefully at her paws. “Yes I know.” She huffed. “I don’t know what to do with myself anymore Nick. I’m so lonely here. Sometimes I’ll take things because it’s all the excitement I get. Nobody visits, nobody calls, the kids around here don’t ring and ask to sell me cookies anymore… I take too long to answer the door now. Your father has been gone for twenty years. I wake up, I stay home, I watch TV, and sleep. I’m wasting the last of my life away and I’ve been so afraid of calling you…”

            Judy could see the tears falling from Nick’s eyes and she reached for his paws; he gripped hers between his.

            “But here you are. And you’ve done wonders for yourself. And here I am… rotting away and I cry myself to sleep sometimes because I’d work too much and I could never be there for you and I just wish maybe you’d come back again… as my little kit again.”

            The fox jerked from the couch and over to his mother, where he sat beside her and held her into his chest, crying with his muzzle atop her head, and she backtracked.

            “No, shh, shh, I didn’t want to make you cry.” She apologized profusely.

            “I love you mom.” Nick repeated, squeezing her firmly but carefully. He began to sob. “I’m so sorry I was so stupid and left and I never came back. I’m so sorry I’ve left you alone but I’m here now and I’m here forever for you. You’ll always be my mom.”

            That got to Judy, and it certainly got to the nimble little vixen, because she started to tear up in his arms too.

            “I’m going to help you okay? I’m going to take you to lunches and picnics and we can go to the park and I can take you places you want to go. You and I. Whenever.” Nick added wiping the hot water from off his face. “No more being alone. I can stay over if you ever want me to also. You just tell me. Okay?”

            It took a while for the vixen to answer back. “Okay.”

            Nick didn’t touch his tea.

 

[(())]

           

            “Are you dating my son?” Mrs. Wilde had dropped the bombshell while Nick had gone upstairs to rummage through his belongings, leaving Judy to answer the question completely alone.

            “Oh,” She sputtered, “Well, the ZPD doesn’t allow that…”

            The vixen laughed joyfully. “Now we both know that just isn’t true. I see the way you look at him and are so okay with grabbing him. He looks rather dashing in that uniform, doesn’t he?”

            The rabbit blushed terribly. “Yes.”

            “So you are dating him?”

            Judy very carefully worked through her racing mind. “Well… it’s something small for now. I like him a lot and I don’t want to mess things up with him.”

            “You love him?”

            The rabbit couldn’t have turned redder without bleeding. “Yes.”

            Cynthia giggled, and pointed up at the ceiling, where Nick’s footsteps were amplified. “He was always a strange one; I figured he’d end up with someone that wasn’t a fox anyways. And I’m glad I got to meet that someone too.”

            Judy scratched at the back of her neck. “Thank you.”

            “No, thank you,” She corrected, “You cleaned up his act and now he’s doing better than any Wilde has ever done. Thank you.”

            Judy was all so flustered, and all she could say again was, “Thank you.”

 

 

[(())]

           

            It was late, and after a nice Chinese delivery dinner, (courtesy of el-cheapo Nick)and Judy’s departure, the fox had taken his mother upstairs (after scowling that she had not bought anything to assist her up the staircase, swearing to return tomorrow for with an automated lift) and tucked her into her bed.

            “Could you stay the night?” Was all she could muster after he had said goodnight and turned off her light, standing in the doorway. “I don’t want to wake up and have you gone, like all those dreams I have where you’re here. I want to wake up and see you again.”

            Nick looked back at her and complied tiredly. “Yeah, I can stay. I’ll take my room.”

            “Thank you, Nick... Goodnight.”

            Nick smiled and turned out of the doorway, but didn’t feel whole just yet.

            “Mom?” He turned back, only to find her already asleep.

            “I love you.”

            He closed the door.


	3. x.y.u.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the linear plot;  
> Nick and Judy land in a heated chase where their lives are in jeporady.

Nick and Judy's police cruiser rounded the corner (with the fox behind the wheel) with blazing speed, the sirens screeching like angsty teenagers; whom they were coincidently chasing. Somehow, Nick's unnervingly good eyesight caught the two from across a parking lot from a coffee shop, and in the shitty compact sedan, he spotted the two adolescent coyotes (a boy and girl, same age) shooting up nightshade in syringes.  
  
There was a horrible tint in his eyes that the rabbit picked up on, and when he sounded the sirens, snarled some curses under his breath and stomped on the gas, she felt her stomach leap to her throat.  
  
So here they were now, speeding dangerously through traffic down Sahara Avenue, with Nick muttering awful obscenities against the kids under his breath.  
  
"Fucking kids," He growled, yanking the wheel left, slamming Judy's shoulder against the door violently. "Fucking canids and their stupid nightshade. We don't fucking learn."  
  
His language was scaring her.  
  
"Nick, calm down..." She tried, and saw his hair bristle with an even worse sense of visible aggression.  
  
"Calm down? Calm down? These fucking kids are going to--"  
  
"Nick, calm down, now." Judy dared put more authority in her voice, and the fox almost damn near snapped.  
  
"Judy, shut it, I'm working."  
  
The rabbit huffed and almost retaliated back, but kept her words to a halt and crossed her arms.  
  
"They're pulling over." She noticed the teenagers in the sedan begin slowly coming to a halt, and the driver appeared to be sobbing, with a hand up already.  
  
"I can see that!" Nick hissed, and followed the sedan into a dirty, dark, scummy alley way.  
  
The duo waited a few moments to see if the teens would pull any hasty behaviors, but none was sighted.  
  
The fox practically ripped the seatbelt from his side, and stormed out of the cruiser, steaming hot and twisting with animosity. Judy exited just as quickly, increasingly worried with his haste, and her anxiety only heightened when she saw a crowd was drawn from the back end of the alley; they were bubbling with a shared anxiety and curiosity, phones in hand filming the situation.  
  
"Nick..." Judy called ahead silently to her partner, who slammed on the glass window with a paw that shook with fury. "There are people watching." She grit through her teeth.  
  
"Don't care."  
  
She huffed and growled with frustration, and stood grumpily by his side, just wanting to smack some sense into him.  
  
The window rolled down slowly, and Nick looked in to see the male driver, a young coyote, geeky, with sandy blonde fur, and a pair of thick glasses over his muzzle. He was crying, horrified, and held both of his hands in the air.  
  
"Officer, I'm so sorry, p-please, I didn't do any, I didn't do any, it was her idea, please..." He pleaded, and Nick's grimace did not waiver. He looked over to Judy for sympathy, and she saw the absolute fear and innocence he held behind those thick glasses, and introverted eyes. "I w-I wanted her to like me."  
  
Nick's attention was suddenly drawn to the passenger seat, where he searched for the aforementioned female in her seat... she wasn't there.  
  
"Where is she?" Judy was confused, and the driver looked over slowly and anxiously to the passenger seat, where he looked below the dashboard.  
  
"K-Katie?" He croaked.  
  
Suddenly, like the flash of a jackal, the female sprung up with a handgun, and fired it straight into Nick's chest, sending him flying backwards into the wall like a rocket ship; he hit with a neck snapping, THUD.  
  
Judy screamed bloody murder, and the large gathering at the front of the alley way amplified her scream like a nasty echo, dissipating like flies.  
  
The male coyote suddenly snapped like a twig, something in his mind went astray, and he suddenly jerked against the seat, trembling and clenching violently, his eyes rolled into the back of his head.  
  
He was having a seizure.  
  
Judy had ducked by the side of the sedan, hiding herself out of sight, holding her breath and tears to make herself as silent as possible. Her ears assisted in trying to make sense of the situation, and the first thing that popped to mind was Nick. Nick was probably dead, judging by the fact that no noise came out from the wall where he was. He was not moving.

            _Hold in your tears,_ her body wracked, lungs felt red hot, and then her ears shot up to detect the sound of the female passenger, her tone taking a sudden change. 

            “Hey, Daniel, quit it, let’s get out of here.”

            There was silence, and Judy took it as her chance to quake around the back of the sedan, handcuffs unbuttoned from her waist.

            “Daniel, stop that.”

            Now Judy could pick up the sound of the car violently shaking from the male coyote’s thrashing, and the situation was made clear to her. The passenger with the firearm was distracted.

            “D-Daniel? What are you doing?”

            Judy finally made it to the other side of the car, the passenger side door, and she was crouched beneath the window, her heart and head pounding terribly, tears slobbering out of the corner of her eyes.

            She took action, jumped from the floor, to the wall, and through the window. The female coyote squeaked and violently thrashed as Judy quickly seized her wrists, snapped them behind her back and cuffed her wrists together. The firearm had dropped to the floor, and Judy then gripped it with her foot, tossed it upwards to her hands, and threw it out the window, out of reach. The adolescent female tried to slam against Judy with her now useless torso, her arms uncomfortably crunched behind her back, but found no use. Judy then looked over to the horrifically seizing male driver, who at this point was turning an awful shade of red, his mouth was foaming with a disturbing intensity, and he was pressing incredibly hard against the seat. Judy blew hot air through gritted teeth, and opened up his door, carefully dragging him out, allowing him to finish seizing on the floor, away from the dangerous and cramped space of the old sedan.

            Finally, she shot after Nick, and when she finally reached him, she broke into sobs of agony.

            “Oh no, oh god, no, please…”

            He was laid against the wall, motionless, hands at his side, head hung down stupidly, eyes closed.

            She crawled the last couple of feet, breaking to pieces.

            “N-no, oh god no, please… Nick, d-don’t go, don’t go…”

            He didn’t move, and she gingerly put her violently shaking paws onto his leg.

            “N-no, I love you, s-stop, p-please…” She plunged onto his chest and gripped around his vest. “N-no, don’t g-go… no…” She wailed, and was choking on her inability to breathe, this couldn’t be happening.

            Then Nick erupted into a flurry of coughing and yelping, sending Judy flying backwards with intense horror, screaming like a maniac.

            “Holy shit, that fucking, oh, lamb of god that hurts!” Nick suddenly went to grip his midsection, and he hacked up a cough of blood and flem.

            Judy laughed in disbelief at first, then they turned to tears of confusion and angst, before she finally ran back into his arms.

            She wailed, and gripped his midsection, where Nick wheezed with pain, but let her be. “Don’t you ever, **_EVER_** scare me again like that… ever,” She hiccupped into a quiet cry.

            Nick laughed with dry, painful humor, and wiggled his paw underneath her, pulling out the bullet from… his vest. The laugh was painful but well deserved. “Look, the vest stopped it, it hurts though.”

            Judy looked at the ugly piece of metal he held between his claws and the two of them stared at it with some common horror that it could have killed him.

            In the background, the sounds and lights of backup suddenly rung and filled the alley.

 

[[()]]

 

            Nick’s vest had taken the bullet well, but it left a large, nasty bruise and had knocked him unconscious when it sent him flying, his head hit the wall, but no concussion had happened, thank god.

            The seizing coyote, Daniel, had a debilitating anxiety and social issue, which caused him to have a seizure from the stress his body was never born with to take. Apparently, his story was that he had deeply fallen in love with the female passenger months ago, but it looked like the girl had taken advantage of him and used his submissive and shy nature to use him for drugs, mostly. So, it finally came to that day, when he decided he’d try it with her, to impress her and gain validation.

            The girl, Katie, was revealed to be officer Delgado’s child, and when he arrived on the scene, he was furious.

            The male, Nick instantly reported later that he was the son of a childhood friend of his, another coyote named Matt Hum. It was why he was so upset, Judy concluded. Nick explained to her that he had reconnected with Matt over Muzzlebook, and had recently been talking to him frequently about family. Specifically, Matt’s son, Daniel.

            “So that makes more sense, I guess.” Judy held a wool blanket tight around herself and Nick. The fox held an icepack tenderly to his shirtless mid-section, grimacing whenever he’d apply the slightest pressure to the bruise.

            “Yeah,” He muttered, still angry. “And I mean, I had… friends who had done that stuff when I was in school. Destroyed their lives. I had some friends OD and die. Set me straight about the stuff.”

            Judy nodded and hummed, leaning into his side.

            “Do you think those kids will be ok?” Nick looked glum.

            Judy huffed sadly. “Hopefully. The girl was already confirmed high and then she shot at you and she was in possession of it all. Her life is ruined. Delgado was crying and furious, they didn’t let him take her in.”

            Nick paused and asked tensely. “Daniel?”

            Judy shrugged. “Hopefully more so. He’s… definitely in hot water… but he might come out with nothing.”

            Nick cursed under his breath, and slowly hugged Judy closer to himself.

            “Promise our kids won’t ever be like that?”

            Judy turned a horrible shade of red just then, they hadn’t been together for two months and he said that. But she wasn’t opposed to the future but the thought of any… relations made her turn beet red. She swallowed her hesitance and hugged him back.

            “Promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave me a comment and kudos! enjoy :))  
> \- zü


	4. from the fire to the trees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the plot that will connect all oneshots from here on out.
> 
> Nick loses a part of his childhood; a new case emerges.

The door flung open to Judy's apartment, and after a rather slow, pummeling day of papers and basic patrols (with nothing to report), the rabbit had practically forgotten Nick had stayed the night at her apartment, and he had been waiting for her all day.

It's why the sudden rush of shock set into her face when she saw the muffled, quiet, hacking sobs of Nick from the bed. His eyes were puffy and horrifically sad, his voice quivered with shivering depression, and his nose was running uncontrollably.

"Nick, oh my god," She dropped her bag with haste onto the floor and ran to hold his head in her bosom, where he seemed to have not even noticed her affection. "What's wrong?" She cooed in his ears, feeling his sorrow leak through her fur and uniform the tighter her clung to her.

"I-I'm fine okay, I'm fine--" He stuttered and sobbed and sniffled like a child would. "--But he, he killed himself." He shook his head with anger and grit his teeth with a fury that emerged from the depression that she had walked in on. "The idiot killed h-himself, a-and now his s-son is f-fatherless and he d-didn't tell me anything!"  
Nick wailed his last words and fell back into his tortured sobs, while Judy frantically tried to soothe him while feeling anxiety double and build in her stomach like someone had poured acid there. It burned, and she had never seen Nick like this.

She shushed him and pet his head, running her blunt claws through his shaggy fur and she eased his trembling body to quiet sobs. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm here for you ok? Right here. You'll be okay."

The fox nodded frantically, with a desperate haste, as if he needed to convince himself that he would. He held her tight and he shared his pain with her.  
"Don't ever leave me like that please," He whined. "Please, don't ever do that. I don't want you to go."

She nodded and shushed him back down again, where he collapsed to her waist and she comforted him in her lap. He shook a few more times before he finally lowered into pained whimpers.

He swallowed thickly. "Judy?"

"Hmm?" She asked with caution, looking down at his glassed-over pupils.

"I love you."

A breath caught in her throat and she felt trapped. They were dating sure but he had never told her that. She knew he liked her, yes, she knew he could ease his ego and pride around her for some romantic interest, but this was something new.

The rabbit kept her voice low and cautious, as she too felt so vulnerable in his own state of vulnerability. She choked and held him. "I love you too, you know." She was quiet, nimble, but meant every bit of it.

Nick cried himself to sleep in her arms.

XXX

"So he was Daniel's dad," Judy asked, having Nick close to her, where they were bound tight by a blanket. They stared out the window together, where rain pitter-pattered with mother nature's own angst.

It took a while for him to even acknowledge that she spoke. He looked at the hot mug of cocoa between his paws. "Yeah," He was reluctant. "Matt was my single best friend growing up in the suburbs. Later into my high school years, I pushed him away because he stayed, well--a good person, and I got into trouble and thought he was embarrassing."

The fox almost looked humiliated as his ears sunk down with his shoulders. "I got back in touch with him a few months ago through Muzzlebook. It was nice to talk to him again and I learned he had a son and all. He had it rough... his wife had passed away giving birth to him, and Daniel was almost a mute; wouldn't talk. We were planning on going out and getting drinks sometime."

A stray tear fell from his face into his hot drink. "He blew his head off with a shotgun before Daniel got home from school today."

The rabbit shivered from the cold and scooted closer to her mate. While she had no idea who this Matt was, she knew how much the whole thing meant to Nick, and so she was there for him and she had no problem with it. She liked cuddling with him anyways.

"Does the kid have anywhere to go?" Judy ran her fingers through shaggy fur and felt the firmness of his forearms beneath.

Nick looked out the window sadly. "No. No other family they could find. I went through records on the computer."

A silence had settled between the two, and Judy had leaned into his side now, wrapping herself around his arm now. She accepted the quiet and it was okay now, she just had to be there for him.

Then something in the wake of her subconscious suddenly clicked, connecting two puzzle pieces that made a strange amount of sense that she couldn't confirm.

While she had been walking back from work, she crossed by a flower shop that her Aunt Jade had bought; she had announced to the family weeks ago that she bought a business out in Zootopia. It was good news for Judy, as she'd finally have some family in the city.

However, while walking by, police tape covered up a situation outside the building; no windows were broken, but there were cruisers galore outside, with even Francine being present. The rabbit was denied entrance to the scene (she was off duty), so she tried to call her Aunt to no avail. She had texted back later that she was fine, but an employee at the shop had an accident. Judy thanked her lucky stars and made some small talk over the phone before she hung back up.

"Where did he work?" She tried to sound spontaneous, but the fox looked back down to her, his eyes piercing hers, like he already knew.

"Some flower shop. They got a new owner or something and they cut his wages, he said. Maybe he wasn't even able to keep up with having enough money to feed Daniel." The fox wiped one more stray tear and sighed with discontent. "Thanks for the cocoa though Judy."

It didn’t take long for the gears in the rabbit’s head to come unstuck, and she felt rather stupid for not recognizing the pin map sooner. “A flower shop?” The rabbit gingerly brought up, but didn’t press. Nick was oblivious, and nodded painfully, sipping on the hot cacao.

“Yeah.”

The bunny gave a scrutinizing look to her phone, and some sneaking suspicion crept through her skin that she should not have been feeling. _Why didn’t she tell you anything?_

_Well she’s your aunt. You shouldn’t be that scathing to throw your own family in the spotlight. Sweet little aunt Jade? Don’t be stupid. She’s probably at home distressed about her employee._

It didn’t stop her from being uneased, and she held her phone away from Nick’s eyes, which were more lost in the little bit of beverage left in his cup. Judy hid her disappointment to see that her aunt had read the texts, but had not responded.

 _“What are you up to…?”_ She whispered to herself, furrowing her brow.

 

XXX

           

Judy had hit the dial button for the fifteenth time, as she waited outside in the hallway, leaving Nick in the room, still swaddled and grieving. She stressfully ran a paw between her ears, stretching her skin and fur painfully with stress. The phone shook and buzzed and stayed dialing, with Judy impatiently tapping her foot, taking deep breaths.

_You should just go inside and hold Nick and help him. She’s not answering Judy. Why don’t you just, give up your stubbornness sometimes? He needs your support in there and you’re out here with a terrible hunch about your own **flesh and blood.** _

As if she spoke of the devil, the phone finally clicked with a small batch of digital crunch, and her aunt came through the other line. She sounded like she too had been crying, her voice was stuffy and she was fatigued.

“Heya Girl Wonder, sorry I haven’t been responding, something happened at the shop today and I took the day off.”

Judy cringed now, feeling stupid and evil for even having the hunch. “So I’ve heard… and saw. I passed by your shop when I got off of my shift.” The rabbit pinched the bridge of her muzzle and shook her head; more at herself. “Are you okay Jade?”

She heard a snort that was supposed to be a sniffle. “I’m doing okay, my employee, I don’t know why, he—he shot himself in the back room of the shop. A customer saw blood pooling from under the backroom door and called the police. I thought maybe you were going to be on the scene.”

Judy crossed her brow. “You said you took the day off, so, weren’t you at the shop?”

“I was out running errands,” She responded rather quickly. “The police called me and I saw, and I… I just couldn’t stay.”

Judy felt conflicted, but felt too… terrible. _It’s not your aunt, you prying idiot. You’d throw your own sweet little aunt Jade into your own little scathing gaze? Drop it Judy._

“I-It’s okay Aunt Jade. I understand. It’s just—It’s just that my—er—boyfriend was friends with him I guess, and he’s sitting in the apartment grieving,” The rabbit leaned her shoulder up against the wall by her door. “I was… just wondering if you knew anything.”

“Oh that’s quite alright,” She quickly added. “Tell him I give him my condolences as well.”

There was an awkward pause where Judy considered saying goodbye and ending her prying train of thought right then and there.

“So, a boyfriend you said?” Her voice dropped all grief over the phone.

Judy had let it leak. “Oh fuck,” She voiced aloud, and pinched her muzzle. “Sorry for the language, I didn’t mean to say that.”

“It’s okay. He new to your bed, or have you had him for a while?” Her aunt pried playfully, and Judy scratched the back of her neck with blunt claws over digital embarrassment.

“Somewhere in the middle,” She vocalized, and tried to put the conversation down there. “I should probably go back inside and support him. He’s very upset about it.”

Her aunt was nonchalant. “It’s alright, you go now. Introduce him to me sometime, I’d love to meet the lucky mammal, maybe we should all go out for lunch sometime.”

Judy speeded things along to alleviate her guilt. “That’d be really nice. Thanks, Aunt Jade, I’ll be on my way now, bye, love you.”

“Love you too.”

The static click of the line going dead greeted her ears, and the rabbit stuffed the phone into her pocket, rubbing her temples with frustration and confusion.

_just go back in and comfort him already what are you doing waiting here you really think she was the one who did this what is wrong with you are you really that untrustworthy of family_

She opened the door back into the apartment, shutting it gently and approaching the fox carefully and tenderly, settling next to him, hugging his side. His breathing was deep, strong, and much more powerful than hers. His heart beat was like a graceful, thooming drum that beat at a steady, slow rhythm that she could feel radiate through her own smaller body. He was so much bigger than her, but he was always so careful with her. He smelled deeply of cinnamon, and his musk was just so _Nick_ to her, it eased her to relax and her relaxation was his.

It was easy feeling this way with him.

“I love you,” He stated matter-of-factly, but it was blank, cautious, yet vulnerable. “A lot. Like, a ‘a lot, a lot’.”

Judy snuggled into his chest and held her fox to her.

“I love you too. Stay here with me. Don’t ever go like… that.”

He shook his head. “Never.”

**Author's Note:**

> new story, woot. gimme a comment, i like hearing you more than a kudos does for me. both would be nice though! love you all.  
> \- zu


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